Nigeria busts drug cartel, kingpin arrested

Nigeria’s anti-drug agency said it had dismantled a methamphetamine syndicate in the largest seizure of its kind in the country, seizing drugs and chemicals ‌worth about $363 million and arresting 10 suspects, including three Mexicans. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said late on Wednesday that coordinated raids on a farm in Ogun state and … The post Nigeria busts drug cartel, kingpin arrested appeared first on Ghanaian Times.

Nigeria busts drug cartel, kingpin arrested

Nigeria’s anti-drug agency said it had dismantled a methamphetamine syndicate in the largest seizure of its kind in the country, seizing drugs and chemicals ‌worth about $363 million and arresting 10 suspects, including three Mexicans.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said late on Wednesday that coordinated raids on a farm in Ogun state and linked properties in Lagos state, southwest Nigeria, uncovered an industrial-scale clandestine ⁠laboratory and yielded 2.4 tons of methamphetamine and chemical materials.

NDLEA Chief Mohamed Buba Marwa said the operation, carried out over 48 hours after months of intelligence work, exposed a network importing foreign “technical expertise” to produce drugs locally.

Seven suspects, including three Mexicans described as meth “cooks”, were arrested at the farm used as a lab in Ogun state’s Abidagba forest, while the alleged mastermind, Anochili Innocent, a ‌Nigerian, ⁠was detained at his Lagos residence. Follow-up operations brought total arrests to 10, the agency said.

The agency said the scale of the haul, equivalent to millions of street doses, highlighted a shift by drug cartels ⁠towards setting up production bases in Nigeria.

The crackdown underscores Nigeria’s growing role as both a transit and manufacturing hub in the global illegal drugs ⁠trade.

Illegal trade has been growing in Nigeria and West Africa, where porous borders allow cartels to expand logistics networks and links ⁠to Latin American trafficking groups.

Marwa said the agency will step up its crackdown on local and transnational networks across the country. – Reuters

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The post Nigeria busts drug cartel, kingpin arrested appeared first on Ghanaian Times.